CENTRUST TO BUY AILING S

CenTrust Savings Bank is acquiring a shaky Fort Lauderdale mutual savings and loan association that was damaged by bad loans in Texas.

CenTrust of Miami announced plans Thursday to acquire Broward Federal Savings and Loan Association. The 8-year-old thrift expects that its net worth will be wiped out this quarter by bad residential loans made through its lending subsidiary in Texas, according to chairman and chief executive officer Angelique Stahl. That subsidiary, Broward Financial Mortgage Corp., opened two offices in Houston in July 1984.

"We figured that our financial position being what we anticipated, it was in our best interests," said Stahl.

CenTrust plans to acquire Broward Federal under the supervision of federal and state regulators because the Fort Lauderdale thrift fell below requirements for minimum net worth.

"It will resolve Broward Federal's touchy regulatory condition in a way that will avoid any interruption in service to the public or loss to depositors and permit and orderly takeover of the Broward operations," said David Paul, CenTrust chairman and chief executive officer.

Paul added that CenTrust was interested in adding Broward Federal's six branches to its own 46 branches.

Stahl will join CenTrust as vice chairman, Paul said.

As of June 30, Broward Federal had assets of $770 million and a net worth of $17.6 million, which gave it 2.25 percent of net worth to assets. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board requires a minimum of 3 percent.

But Stahl said the thrift's calculations showed that net worth would be wiped out this quarter by the bad Texas loans. She said the value of the loans is still being appraised.

The acquisition must be approved by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and the Florida Department of Banking and Finance, which must find that there is no equity remaining for Broward Federal's depositors.

Centrust is publicly owned, but Broward Federal is a mutual association, which means it is owned by the depositors. Because CenTrust is acquiring the thrift under the supervision of the federal and state regulators, the depositors have no right to vote about the transaction, and they do not get the opportunity to buy CenTrust stock.

When asked whether CenTrust would take over the bad loans, spokesman David Whitney said, "We don't know how any of it comes out until the regulators decide."

CenTrust stock closed at $12.62 Thursday, up from $12.12 Wednesday.

CenTrust, which has assets of nearly $6 billion, earned $55.3 million for the nine months ending June 30, up from $41.9 million for the same period a year earlier.